Florida Atlantic: Lane Kiffin's point spread tweet was joke

A spokesman for Florida Atlantic University said football coach Lane Kiffin was only joking when he tweeted about a late intentional safety and the point spread it impacted during the Owls’ 30-25 victory against Marshall, ESPN reported.

Florida Atlantic clinched bowl eligibility with its fifth consecutive victory Friday night. The Owls were a 6.5-point favorite and led 30-23 with 14 seconds to play. On fourth down from the Florida Atlantic 24, Kiffin opted for an intentional safety, rather than risk a punt block or a return. That iced the game for the Owls, but ruined the line for bettors who picked Florida Atlantic and took the spread.

After the game, Kiffin tweeted that he “didn’t want to cover because of too much rat poison.”

Kiffin's mention of rat poison in his tweet was ia nod toward Alabama coach Nick Saban's past comments about media praise being like “rat poison” to his players' focus, ESPN reported. Kiffin worked for Saban as Alabama’s offensive coordinator from 2014 to 2016.